Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect

Mass Effect: Precipice

by

Nitefyre

Prologue:

Something Dark is Coming

Earth: Undisclosed location

12 hours after last contact with Normandy

"The lose of the Collector base is unacceptable, we gave you the backing to bring the Commander back from the dead to acquire Collector Technology and we have nothing to so for it but 4 billion credits wasted ." Board member number 9 stated his voice barely containing his displeasure with the current start of affairs . T.I.M took a long deliberate drag of the cigarette before he spoke choosing his words careful.

"I did warn you that Shephard is individualistic and idealistic. His actions should come as no surprise". he could see the scowl crossing over the mans face at his comment. He would have to tread carefully he may not like board members also known as the Pantheon but they were the backbone of Cerberus. They made it possible and they could unmake it and this was not time for him to be burning bridges. "We did retrieve valuable data and the Reaper IFF is being reproduced as we speak. The salvage from ship Graveyard should prove useful."

"You should have installed the control chip like we instructed." Board member number 12 slamming his hand down the table he was sitting behind. "Now all we have to so for this mess a thousand year ship wreaks and junk."

"For what purpose, you wanted a leader someone to inspire humanity. You had him, you lost him and you had me bring him back. Putting a chip in his head would turn him into a puppet something that would be counter-productive to your cause." taking another pull from his cigarette the nicotine taking the edge off his nerves. "Also for the record some of those ships are far more advanced than most of the Alliances top of the line ships and the raw materials alone would increase production ten fold.".

"Gentlemen that is beside the point, the question is what do we now? " Board member 6 one of the few Female members of the Pantheon.

"According to our records before Shephard left for the Omega 4 Relay he was reactivated his Specter status" Board member number 3 stated sitting quietly the Illusive Man made no indication that where this line of the thought was going bothered him. Turning Shepherd into another Saren rubbed him the wrong way. Still the first rule of hunting was when your quarry goes to ground give no ground. Shepherd was using his Specter status hide himself from Cerberus eyes turning him into a Rogue Specter is dangerous. It could very well damage humanities standing on the Council. The upside was that if all did go right Alliance and Humans look like heroes hunting down one of their own. A lot of the races still bore resentment towards humanity for not saving the Destiny Ascension still there was something he did not trust about this whole ordeal it had been bugging him sense the beginning he simply could not put his finger on it - at least not yet.

"What are you suggesting Three?" Board member number 7 asked.

"Commander Shephard has gone rogue attacking human and Council interest alike, the Alliance will hunt him down to ends of the galaxy in a sign of good faith we will hold a trail and kill our greatest hero to protect Council." The Illusive Man sometimes but not always did hate being right.

"That is interesting plan of the action, I will have my people start working on the cover story. " board member 8 stated.

"Now that we have the prey we need the hunters... Is the Midway operational?" the Head of the Board Number on asked.

"Yes the Midway is in every way the Normandy's equal." board member number 5 responded. "The Last data burst receive from EDI allowed us to outfit the Midway with the same upgrades the Normandy has...all she needs is a crew.

"I am positive that a highly skilled crew can be assigned am I correct in my assumption Raphael" the Lead member looked a the Illusive Man calling not by his given name but his Code name Raphael the Keeper of Mysteries.

"Yes I will have a list of the potential crew sent to you and what about Shephard's crew?" One he knew that the Illusive Man would pick a crew and he also half expected the man to betray the board at any moment. What Number One did know that T.I.M was not a fool he was playing his cards safe and for the moment they needed him and his influence alive. T.I.M knew this but did not want to press his luck.

"The Normandy is now too valuable of a recourse to simply destroy but we must make the ruse believe able... bring us Shepherd and his crew alive they will stand public trail and execution in the public eyes . Once we have them off the grid and in our possession we will get what we need from him and the crew."

"Very Well..." Disconnecting from the channel Raphael rubbed the bridge of his nose attempting to ward off the head ache that was starting besiege him. Just what the hell was he going to do, Shephard is marked as traitor by the Pantheon with he and his crew the only ones that take on the Reaper he needed a plan.. He had to hunter them down still this did present and interesting opportunity to turn things around in his favor.

"Get me Councilor Anderson..."

Chapter 1

Location Somewhere in the Hawking Eta Cluster

Hold On

Nathaniel Shephard walked out of the wreaked briefing room with a smile on his face, maybe it was the rush of adrenaline running through him from his nearest brush with death. What ever it was it did not matter he told the Illusive man to go to hell and while it may have not been that best choice of words at this moment he did not really care. He, they had done it, the impossible. He traveled past the Omega 4 Relay and everyone., everyone was home and alive - beat up, bruises, broken bones, and bullet holes but alive.

"Shephar... Oh." Tali jump in surprise as the Nathaniel pulled her small form in massive frame even though she was considered big for a Quarian female standing a s 5'6 and 125 pounds. Shepherd stood a 6'4 245 pounds of well trained, rebuilt, former Alliance vanguard muscle. What surprised her the most was that a man his size who she had seen charge down Krogan and shatter husk. Yet when it came to her he was complete opposite. "Um Nathaniel are you alright?

"I'm fine I just need to hold ya that's all had too make sure this is real and I'm not dead again or a some Reaper trick." He said resting his chin on the top of her helmet she understood for a man that had been dead no more then 6 months ago this must have been a hug shock.

"I'm and this is real."

"You know Jake I should take pictures they are just sooo adorable together ." Kasumi cooed grabbing the couples attention.

"Kasumi you wouldn't dare..."

"I don't know Tali you two would make great a Christmas or Valentines day cards. Considering we are now unemployed we could use the royalties." Jacob added crossing leaning on the nears wall. "Don't worry Commander Miranda already gave the crew the news... you will have no issues about loyalty from anyone on this ship after what we just did.." That eased some that of the worries that Nathaniel had about the former Operator of the Lazarus Cell. "You have our full support."

"I'm surprised she would do something like that.." Tali questioned she and the XO where never really close for various reasons.

"Shocked yep Miri has a way of doing a lot of people judge her based off her looks and upbringing but once you win her over she'll stick with you to hell and back."

"Maybe it just that Shep has a way with the ladies that you lacking Jake " Before he could fire a retort the thief vanished in a shimmer of light her laugh echoing through corridors.

"How's Garrus? heard he took a nasty hit during the fire fight." Shephard as the object his current attention wiggle her way out his grasp. He did not mind showing his softer side around Jacob the to former Alliance soldiers understood each other and with exceptions of Garrus he was closest thing he could call a friend.

"Like I said he is one tough son of bitch he was down in medical giving Chakwas hell until Mordin threatened him. Look don't ask me what the Doc said all it did was shut him up." Jacob put his hands in the air shaking his head he knew better than to piss Mordin off and prevent him from doing his work. Shephard let the sense of the relief was over him, his crew , his family was safe, she was safe and they could finally get some rest.

3 hours after the destruction of the Collector Base

Precious Moments

Shephard made his way to his cabin the rush of battle finally starting to wear off. He realized how much his body ached and just how utterly exhausted. He was thankful how Miranda rebuilt him with these types of injuries he would be in bed for weeks but the accelerated healing and stronger heavy weave bone and muscle he was no worse for wear. Falling down onto the couch giving the vocal command for his stereo to turn on. He started tentatively to pull the blood caked, burnt and cracked gauntlets off his arms wincing pulling out a rather large piece of the armor from his forearm. Dr Chakwas would have a fit if she saw him doing his himself but they crew needed her attention more he would heal he always did but they came first. Pulling out his emergency med kit he started to apply some medi-gel to the wound hissing as the burning from the disinfectant took effect. Just as he started wrapping his injured arm the chime signaling that some was at his door.

:"Come in."

"Shephead I know you're probably tired but... Oh Keelah you stubborn man why didn't go see Doctor Chakwas." Tali chided looking at the just how injured he really was she could see blood seeping through cracks and holes in his armor, terrible cut over his right eye that had stopped bleeding but there was still a lot of blood and dirt caked on his face.

"She needed to look after crew my injuries aren't the bad." He said wincing as he finished wrapping his arm, that she noticed there was small hole burnt clean through his armor. It was a shot he took while fighting off the Drones as they made their escape he took that shot pushing her to side.

"Bosh'tet stop it a let me look at this at least." chided slapping his away.

"Tali it.."

"Nathaniel hush." She said sternly the looked she gave from behind that visor beat what ever fight he had left in him out. There was no way in he could ever say no to her. He just was not used to this for most of his life sense birth he was always on his own, on Akuze he had to set his own dislocated knee. He was more the used to patching himself back up after a fight. Tali gentle pulled off his shoulder armor and breast plate. Taking in a sharp intake of breath the scars she show where mostly new most of them coming during the course of the Mission. Burns, bullet wounds gashes all covered his chest. Finding the wound in question she was pleased to see that the round went right through and at least she did not have to remove the round. Taking bullets out was something she did not like, she had once with Reager and it was not a pleasant experience.

"You're thinking about something" He stated lazily looking at her through her mask a talent only he possessed.

"Thinking about how alike you and Reager are, he would always make sure that I and the rest of the squad were taken care of first and that dumb Bosh'tet would standing there with a suit puncher and infection." She started trying to sound angrier than she really was at the moment a fact that Nathaniel did not slip past. She continued tending to him with expert and tender care she started to clean the wound before applying some medi-gel and bandage to the entry wound. " I think you two like to make me worry- sit up." Shephard did as ordered hearing the gasp from her when she saw the size of the exit wound. The entry wound was small number bigger than a nickel but the exit wound that was the size of a golf ball. Making sure she cleaned the dried blood and grim away from the wound, she placed another application of medi-gel and a padded bandage over the bullet hole before wrapping his shoulder. .

"So why did you stop by, it's not about tending to me through I can't say that I mind the treatment." Shaking her head at the rather flirtatious tone in his very tired sounding voice.

"Well Commander." She started cleaning off the the wound on his face. "The FTL drive is going to be down for at least another 20 hours and my room in the cargo hold is well gone, I was planning to staying with Kasumi..."

"You can sleep here if that's what you're tying to ask."

"But the...

"Already know so it does not matter and given that we are freelance now who cares about procedure." Tali finished tending the cut on his head he could tell by he body language that she was worried and trying to hide the fact. "Hey don't worry I'll figure out what we do from here first I we need to get the FTL drive back online and get back civilized Space for repairs."

"I know, its just a lot to take in, what do you think that Illusive man will do?"

"He spent 4 billion credits on rebuilding me... so my guess would be yes." Shepherd knew that he was marked man right know for crossing Cerberus but he also knew that they would not kill him he was 4 billion dollar investment.

One who is Torn Apart

Citadel, Presidium Ring, Councilor Anderson Office

24 hours after the last Contact with the Normandy.

"Good evening Councilor Anderson I'm sure this this not a bad time."

"What the hell? This is a secure channel how did you..." Anderson desperately reaching for the alarm as face of middle age Caucasian man appeared on his com screen.

"Don't - I own considerable stock in the company that provides embassy firewalls and cyber defense system rest assured there will be no evidence that we even spoke." old military instincts died hard for a man like Anderson Slowly turning himself to face his monitor his left hand reaching for the pistol he keep under his desk. "And that pistol you keep under desk will not be necessary either, I would recommend going to HWP brand, Kesslar thermal clips tend to get jammed. If I wanted you dead we would not be having this conversation."

"Okay you have proven your point now who are and what do you want?" the man took a long drag of his smoke an slightly amused look crossing his face at the question.

"You destroyed a number of my cells that had gone rogue, I should thank you for doing that work for me."

"Cerberus.." Anderson snarled through clenched teeth. " What ever you are planning I will have nothing to do with it..."

"Councilor Anderson there is no need for the melodrama, this is a friendly call. More importantly I need your help." T.I.M stated watching the Councilor carefully there was a reason that Shepherd pick this man to lead the Council. Anderson was shrewd leader and had an excellent eye for detail.

"That I find it hard to believe but I will humor you...Why?"

"Shepherd has gone Rogue." T.I.M stated simply the shocked silence was no surprise to him Anderson was or is the only father Shepherd had ever known.

"There is something that you're not telling, I know Shepherd and you do to he would'nt go Rogue not like Saren." Anderson was shocked, still he trusted Shepherd more than almost anyone in the galaxy. There was more to this than just a rogue specter.

"You're correct and for your safety I'm not going to tell you all the details. What I can tell you is this - Shepherd is the only chance we have against the Reapers and they are coming." T.I.M took a pull of his cigarette before continuing. "If you want to save him and his crew we have to play this very carefully."

"So this is just a lie. why should I help you and Cerberus? You're just throwing him under to the wolves anyway.."

"I know the Reapers are involved but I can not prove anything so for now I to have play along..." the Illusive man statement stopped Anderson in his track the Reapers involved in Cerberus this was almost too much for him to handle.

"How can I trust you?"

"Trust that I want to stop the Reapers and if Shepherd is dead, we're dead." He was right Anderson knew that he was right and if the Reapers had some how infiltrated an organization like Cerberus they could be anywhere even on the Council and Alliance governments.

"It seems that I have no choice in the matter... So what is your plan?"

"With in the next 24 hours the reports will start to come out with footage." He deposited some ashes in the astray seeing the look of disgust on Anderson face.

"We could refute them..."

"No we'll play along … We hunt him, we sick the hounds on him but it will be hounds of our choice. " That did make sense to Anderson give the bureaucrats something to shake stick to get the machine moving.

"There is more to this..." Anderson added he was not fool.

"I have forwarded a set of dossiers of the team that should be sent after him... they should acceptable. We need thinkers for this Anderson not just soldiers." flipping through the files Anderson recognized a lot of the names , Williams, Davidson and few others but there is was only thing in common they had call either served with Shephard or had been at Eden Prime or the Battle of the Citadel. They had seen the truth first hand so they would naturally question the orders they received.

"Most have worked with, or are some way connected to the Sovereign Incident why them?"

"Who better to hunt him than people that have known him and how he thinks."

Notes: And so the die is cast... hold people your in for on hell of a ride.